CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE AUTHOR JOANIE MACNEIL IS INSPIRED BY THE GREEK ISLAND OF RHODES

Joanie Macneil is an Australian author of contemporary romance. Her novels are a mix of sweet and sexy feel-good stories. Though most are set in Australia, she loves to travel and has set some of her stories in places she’s visited. Learn more about Joanie and her books at her website.  

Choosing the right setting for a story

My latest release, Mandraki Magic, is a sweet romance, set in the medieval Old Town on the Greek Island of Rhodes.

 

Originally, I planned to write the novella with a summer beach theme and a touch of magic as part of an anthology for my writers’ group. When the project folded, I wrote the story anyway.

 

I wanted to keep the theme, but when the elements of the story wouldn’t gel, I decided to switch location. What better place for romance than the walled Old Town with its many historical gates? Though I’d visited Rhodes a few months prior, I hadn’t previously considered setting my story there.

 

The colorful and narrow stone streets lined with boutiques, eateries, and other tourist shops provided an ideal setting. The small restaurant where we stopped for lunch offered outdoor seating and an opportunity to relax and soak up the sunshine and atmosphere while observing passers-by. The venue where my major characters worked was based loosely on this restaurant and its location.

 

The yummy Greek salad of olives, salad vegetables, and feta cheese was both tasty and healthy. Some patrons were in for a surprise when they ordered jugs of beer. The amber liquid, served in clear glass boots, caused quite a commotion, both for cost and the unusual serving vessel.

 

I soaked up the local life in that section of the Old Town as I walked further along the street and surrounding areas. Beneath a huge spreading tree, brightly colored macaws perched in wait for admiring tourists. Cats ran from everywhere at the sound of loud banging, nearby traders calling them for dinner. This added to the ambience of the setting for Mandraki Magic.

 

Character images from Pinterest and my own photos as background helped bring the story and setting to life.

 

About Rhodes

The island of Rhodes is mountainous and rugged with many beautiful, isolated, sandy beaches. Anthony Quinn Beach (or Bay) was named for the actor who featured in the movie Guns of Navarone. Some of the scenes were filmed on Rhodes. Along the coast, the tourist hotels and amusements were closed as the summer was almost over. That seemed premature given the weather was still perfect and warm.

 

Though there is much to see in the Old Town with its ancient buildings, busy shopping streets and colorful locals, my visit was too short to cover them all.

 

Maybe one day I’ll return to explore more of the historical sites.

 

Information on Rhodes can be found at the following sites:

Rhodes has a long and colourful history. The island is also known as The Island of the Knights, named after the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, who ruled the island from 1310 to 1522. Historically, Rhodes island was very famous worldwide for the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Medieval Old Town of the City of Rhodes has been declared a World Heritage Site.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Hospitaller

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_of_Rhodes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Wonders_of_the_Ancient_World

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortifications_of_Rhodes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Site

 

More of the ancient history of Rhodes can be found here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes

 

Mandraki Magic

A Holiday Romance, Book 1

Is Jazzy’s first love the right man for her? Settled in her new life on the Greek Island of Rhodes, her peaceful existence is shattered at the unexpected arrival of her former love. What is Finn's real reason for being on Rhodes?

Madame Aesha, Love Psychic, Palm Reader and Mystical Practitioner helps Jazzy sort through her confused emotions, with a few magical twists along the way, and an unforeseen love interest. But Jazzy is quite capable of making her own decisions about her future.

 

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AUTHOR PAULINE BAIRD JONES SHARES CHRISTMAS MEMORIES THAT INSPIRED TWO SCI-FI ROMANCE NOVELLAS

USA Today bestselling author Pauline Baird Jones never liked reality, so she writes books. She likes to wander among the genres, rampaging like Godzilla, because she does love peril mixed in her romance. Learn more about Pauline and her books at her website. 

One of the traditions that I share with the characters of Open With Care is going home, of the need to be home with loved ones for the holidays. I can still remember singing, “Over the river…to grandmother’s house we go” as a child. I was so excited it was painful, and as we’d sing, I’d peer out the car window and wonder if Santa was flying by overhead. Oh yes, I believed.

Now, I grew up close to both my grandmothers, so our “over the river” didn’t take that long. But our Christmas Eve was for my “over the river” grandma. As a child, I remember clambering out of the car, crunching across the snow toward a light square of welcoming warm and being met with loving hugs and a holiday treat—not a big one because my “over the river” Grandma had a lot of grandkids. That’s the other part of the memory. Lots of cousins and chaos. 

And then back in the car and home for the long night’s wait for Santa’s visit. Then my closer Grandma would join us for the unwrapping. She’d settle in a chair and exclaim over our presents and return our thank you hugs for her small gifts so carefully wrapped and so ruthlessly unwrapped.

But wrapped in all the memories, in the heart of them all is the love, so much love and joy at being together.

Going home for Christmas was both harder—and more special—after I married and we moved a long way from home. I remember one Christmas in particular. We lived in New Orleans at the time and had had the trip planned for several months when the weather turned on us.

It was feared that it MIGHT snow in New Orleans—yes you read that right; it didn’t actually snow—but they basically shut the city down and cancelled all the flights. Yeah, on a might. 

Luckily we were able to get out the next day, but it caused problems all along the line. I can still remember the face of the car rental agent when we explained why we were a day late. This was in Salt Lake City where it had snowed. And snowed. And snowed. It had snowed so much, they were hauling the snow out in trucks.

And we were a day late because of a “might” that didn’t happen.

That trip was defined by record-breaking snow (and our no snow beginning) and record breaking cold. The below zero kind that makes your jeans stiff.

And family hugs. Family love. Family time and the chance for our kids to experience an honest-to-goodness white Christmas.

In Open With Care I tried to capture that feeling of anticipation, but anticipation tempered with an adult perspective and with adult problems waiting for my heroine when she gets home. 

Of course, because this is fiction, there are more problems waiting for her than an aging parent to be dealt with. 

Open With Care

A collection of two sci-fi romances inspired by the spirit of giving

Unexpected guests come bearing gifts. This interstellar Christmas will be one for the ages…

Gini won't let her bickering family or the incoming blizzard dampen her holiday spirits. But nothing could prepare her for the uninvited houseguests. She's not sure if she's ready to exchange gifts with the man who broke her heart or the little green aliens on the roof. 

But the intergalactic visitors have a gift for Gini… a taste of the youth and love she left behind…

Jane MacKenzie has never opened a Christmas gift that transformed her world. At least, not until she accidentally opens a box to find a man who was lost in a blizzard over 100 years ago. Jane isn't sure how to handle the strange visitor and his otherworldly agreement…

But the Christmastime encounter may just open her heart to a love that can stand the test of time. 

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY ON A WEDNESDAY--EIGHT COWBOY-LOVING ROMANCE AUTHORS

Today for Book Club Friday we’re featuring an anthology of cowboy romances. We sat down with the six contributing authors to ask why they write western romances. Here’s what they had to say on the subject:

Susan Fisher Davis

I write western romance because I've always had a fascination with cowboys. I married one. I just don't think there's a man who works harder or loves harder than a cowboy.

Melissa A Keir

I grew up with two amazing young men who spent their summers on ranches working as cowboys and ridging the trails. Their stories inspired me to write about men like them. And who doesn't adore a good love story? I believe that we need more happily-ever-afters in a world filled with angst and drama.

Leslie Garcia

My love for cowboys—and horses—defies logic. The only claim my parents had to the cowboy life was that my father briefly rented a boat slip three or four spaces down from Roy Rogers' yacht. But I became infatuated with cowboys because a) they had horses and b) they saved the world time and again. When I got older, and met real cowboys working on a Texas dude ranch, I realized that they were just as solid and dependable as the fictional cowboys I used to cherish, and writing their love stories became another facet of a lifelong passion.

Debbie Desmartea

My dad was a cowboy who worked as a ranch foreman. I often had a secret crush on his summer hired help as a young girl. Love a man in jeans! He taught me the importance of honesty, respecting others, lived by the good book, played harmonica with my mother on piano and was strong as an ox. I consider myself lucky to be a part of a cowboy’s life.

Stephanie Berget

I was born loving horses, a ranch kid trapped in a city girl’s body. It took me twelve years to convince my parents I needed a horse of my own. I developed a lifelong love of rodeo when I married my own hot cowboy. The Bronc Rider and I traveled throughout the Northwest while I ran barrels and my cowboy rode bucking horses. I began writing to put a realistic view of rodeo and ranching into western romance. 

D'Ann Linscott-Dunham

Cowboy bred, born and will die! Grew up with my parents running a dude string in Colorado (summers) and Arizona (winters). My mom was a city kid who always loved horses. My dad was the real deal--he broke horses the old-fashioned way--by bucking them out--when I was a baby. He roped calves like a pro, and had aspirations that way, but a growing family prohibited life on the road. He taught me to ride when I was three years old and break (gentle) my first horse when I was eleven. Later, he worked on cattle ranches and instilled his love of ranching in me. 

A Cowboy Under the Mistletoe

Christmas has always been a time for romance and love. Join six amazing and bestselling authors of western romance as they weave the sexiest cowboys into the holiday season. 

What are you wishing for this Christmas? How about a Cowboy!

Stories in the anthology include:

“A Cowboy for Christmas” by Susan Fisher Davis 

When Reid decides he needs to do one last thing to honor his best friend, will Lucy, his best friend’s widow, understand or say goodbye to the cowboy she got for Christmas.

“The Cowboy’s Christmas Hand” by Leslie Garcia 

Ty Olivares grew up cherished and surrounded by luxury--and lies she didn’t discover until her ex inherited the ranch that should have been hers. 

“Tempting the Cowboy” by Melissa Keir  

Johnson and Debra must trust in their love and rely on each other, because when temptation comes calling, only the strong will survive.

“A Different Kind of Gift” by Debbie Desmarteau 

Will a chance meeting between a forlorn cowboy and a woman who gave up her dreams a long time ago lead to love or just another set of broken hearts?

“Saving a Cowboy’s Christmas” by Stephanie Berget 

Gina’s been a lot of things but rebound girl isn’t the next on her list… even for a cowboy that’s always been out of her league.

“Noah’s Christmas Faith” by D'Ann Lindun 

Faith Cortland has to protect her teenage sisters left in her care, so she refuses to let any man get close. Will Noah Carpenter be able to break down her defenses and show her she can trust him?

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--F.M. MEREDITH ON THE INSPIRATION FOR HER CHARACTERS

Marilyn Meredith, who writes the RBPD mystery series as F.M. Meredith, is the author of more than forty published books. She once lived in a small beach town much like Rocky Bluff, and has many relatives and friends in law enforcement. Learn more about Marilyn and her books at her website and blog.

What Inspired the Character(s)

In the Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery series, there are multiple characters who have been in the series since or near the beginning. I’m going to write about the inspiration for a few of them, plus a couple of new ones.

I wrote the first book in this series when my son-in-law became a cop and came to my house every morning after his shift for a cup of coffee. He always shared what had gone on the night before, including tidbits about his co-workers. Of course a lot of what I heard spilled over into my books and the characters who inhabited them.

Detective Doug Milligan has been one of the main characters since the beginning. He was inspired by the police officers I knew at the time—young, married, and with children. Because these men were neighbors and I was friends with their wives, I had some insight into how what was going on in the families affected the job, and what they experienced on the job affected their families. Of course a lot of this became part of other characters.

Officer Gordon Butler has become the favorite of many of my readers. He’s had a rough time of it, both as a police officer and in his private life. He was inspired by one of the local cops who knew all the laws, operated by the book, worked hard, but bad and often humorous things happened to him.

Abel Navarro begins as an officer and becomes a sergeant as time goes on. From Mexican descent, he and some of his family members are loosely based on one of my sons-in-law. No my son-in-law is not a cop, but the dynamics of his large family has provided a lot of inspiration for ongoing characters. 

One of the newer characters is the police chief of the Rocky Bluff P.D., Chandra Taylor. She’s African American and tough. No, I don’t know any female police chief’s, but I have a friend who I see in my mind’s eye when I write about Chief Taylor. My friend once worked in prison as the assistant to the warden. Taylor is like my friend, shaped by the adversities in her life, but intelligent and capable, able to handle most anything--except romance.

Another new character is the daughter of the Rocky Bluff mayor. Kayla Duvall is a teenager who didn’t know her father until her mother, dying of cancer, sent her to live with him. I borrowed her looks from a darling boy who attends our church and who has an African American mom and Anglo dad. Like Kayla, he has blond curly hair.

For many years, I’ve been a member of the Public Safety Writers Association that is made up of many law enforcement officers. Of course I’ve made friends with many of them and some of them have also inspired characters in this series.

Bones in the Attic 

In a small town like Rocky Bluff, personal and professional often overlap, so Detective Doug Milligan is not surprised when his daughter Beth is the one who informs him a body has been discovered.

What is surprising is that the body is in a long-abandoned home that Beth and other students are turning into a haunted house as a fund raiser. The city granted permission for the project as long as it was limited to the downstairs for safety reasons. But one student, Mike Patterson, couldn't resist the temptation to look in the attic.

Detective Milligan stepped carefully a trunk and peered inside. Only a musty unpleasant smell emanated from the contents, not the noxious decomposition odor he'd expected. The skeleton crammed inside was still clothed in the remnants of what may have been pajamas.

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--AUTHOR LOIS WINSTON TALKS ABOUT ART BEING IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

There’s an old maxim that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” The same can be said of art. When I was in college, I attended many Manhattan gallery openings. Some were beyond absurd, as far as I was concerned, like the one consisting of a piece of masking tape running down the center of the wooden floor of one room. Nothing else. To me, this was a case of the emperor having no clothes, but the gallery owner obviously thought it was an excellent example of minimalist art.

One exhibit I attended consisted of large squares of mirror placed on the gallery floor. The mirrors were then hammered and the glass left on the floor in its fractured state. A mound of dirt was then dumped onto the glass.

Was it art? I didn’t think so, but maybe I’m wrong, given that one of the objects of art is to evoke emotional reaction in the observer. I certainly reacted to the pieces, even though my reactions were decidedly negative. 

Maybe that’s why the curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art purchased one of those broken mirror and dirt piles for the museum—to evoke emotion, whether positive or negative. I couldn’t find a photo of that “sculpture,” but the photo above is another by the artist from a different series where he didn’t first break the mirrors.

Recently my husband and I took a cruise to New England and Canada. Anastasia wrote about it in a post last month.

This particular ship featured framed artwork in many of their elevators. It’s unusual to find artwork in elevators. Most of the time people stand awkwardly facing forward, avoiding eye contact—not to mention conversation—with the strangers occupying the remainder of the limited floor space. However, the artwork in these elevators definitely got my fellow cruisers talking—and laughing.

I’ve always enjoyed the whimsical and comical, whether in art or music or literature. Maybe that's why I write humorous amateur sleuth mysteries with characters who are a bit outside the box. 

Anyway, these altered images of animals were definitely whimsical. Is it art? I’m voting yes on these, but it’s really up to each of us to decide.

Meanwhile, they'll probably show up in one of Anastasia's future adventures. I wonder what she'll think of that!

#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--AUTHOR JACQUELINE DIAMOND FINDS INSPIRATION IN CRAFTY TREES

Mendenhall Glacier Gardens

Crafts come in all different mediums, including ones you'd never suspect. Today we have a return visit from USA Today bestselling author Jacqueline Diamond, here to talk about the inspiration behind her latest Safe Harbor Medical Mystery. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

From Strange Trees, a Mystery Grows

In the course of writing more than a hundred romances and mysteries, I’ve drawn inspiration from many sources. Sometimes I get the sense that there’s a key plot twist waiting for me, if I look in the right place... and that I’d better grasp that fleeting bit of inspiration before it escapes.

How to account for this instinct? I consider it a partnership between my conscious and subconscious. That’s what happened when my husband and I took our first trip to Alaska.

In my Safe Harbor Medical Mysteries, a young widowed physician in a small California town teams with his detective sister-in-law to solve murders that affect patients, colleagues and friends. There’s danger and humor, centered on the hospital where he works. 

The dramatic landscape of Alaska hardly fit into the picture. Yet I kept sensing that it might.

We were touring Mendenhall Glacier Gardens, a strikingly landscaped setting created in the aftermath of a landslide, when some remarkable trees caught my eye. They were upside-down, with the roots serving as a kind of flower basket.

Our guide explained that, while one of the owners was clearing away rocks and trees that had tumbled down a mountainside, an expensive piece of rental equipment was damaged. Frustrated about the large repair bill in store, he used the equipment to yank up a tree by its root ball, invert it and slam it down.

Instead of shattering as expected, it lodged in the mud. Struck by a vision of the roots as a petunia basket, he filled the root ball with netting, soils, mosses and flowers. The result was so beautiful that, each year, he creates about 75-100 of what he calls Flower Towers, to the delight of visitors.

photo copyright Dmitriy Raykin,
licensed from Shutterstock 

  

As I snapped photos, I imagined the face of a woman peering at me from one of the trunks. Who was she?

My brain whirled into action. Suppose seeing those unusual trees sparked a memory in a girl who didn’t know she’d ever been here before? Suppose that discovery led to the unearthing of a woman’s murder, with clues that pointed to my hero, Dr. Eric Darcy?

In constructing the mystery, everything had to be turned around so that the reader learns of events through Eric’s point of view. Being falsely accused of murder forces him to unravel the truth behind the disappearance of a woman from his past, and to the stunning realization that he might have a daughter he never knew about.

WhileThe Case of the Long-Lost Lover is the fourth mystery in the series, it stands on its own. It’s an old-fashioned puzzle mystery, with fast pacing, clues for the reader to follow, and carefully researched medical and forensic details.

After the initial spark, the hard work of writing a novel lies in developing a story with twists and turns, and characters you care about. But in this case, the mystery was literally rooted in the inspiration!

The Case of the Long-Lost Lover 

A Safe Harbor Medical Mystery, Book 4

When Dr. Eric Darcy is suspected of killing his former girlfriend, the young widowed physician teams with his PI sister-in-law to uncover the truth. Can they succeed before a murderer closes in on a child who might be his? USA Today bestselling author Jacqueline Diamond’s new Safe Harbor Medical mystery is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat until its shocking conclusion!

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MYSTERY AUTHOR HEATHER HAVEN ON THE INSPIRATION BEHIND HER WWII ERA FEMALE PI SERIES

Today we have a return visit from award-winning author Heather Haven, here to talk about how her Persephone Cole Vintage Mystery Series came about. Heather’s other series include the Silicon Valley-based Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries, its off-shoot, Love Can Be Murder Novellas, and The Snow Lake Romantic Suspense Novels. Murder Under the Big Top, a Ringling Brothers’ Circus stand-alone docu-mystery, and an anthology, Corliss and Other Award-Winning Stories, round out her work. Learn more about Heather and her books at her website.

It’s odd what can give birth to a series. The Persephone Cole Vintage Mysteries happened after years of research for my stand-alone circus noir mystery, Murder Under the Big Top. I didn't want all of the knowledge I'd gleaned of the nineteen-forties to go to waste! But most importantly, I had been challenged to write a mystery with a protagonist who wasn't an ideal beauty, i.e. young, svelte, and beautiful.

So I came up with Persephone (Percy) Cole, who I believe fills the bill. Pushing forty years old - considered middle-aged back then – Percy is a five-foot eleven, full-figured gal, with a wicked sense of humor, and a take-no-prisoners attitude. Her one soft spot is her eight-year old son Oliver, a child who gives her life meaning.

I didn’t realize when I created a character physically larger than most men of seventy-plus years ago, I was offering up a woman who was quite comfortable with being a female Sam Spade. As one of the country’s first female private investigators, Percy fit into a man’s world at a time when few women did.

The first of the series, The Dagger Before Me, takes place over Halloween in a Broadway theater during a production of Macbeth. I chose a Broadway theater because I worked backstage in most of them for many years. I am very familiar with what is often considered an exotic job in an exotic world.

Iced Diamonds takes place in the Diamond District of Manhattan, although sadly, I don’t know diamonds nearly as well as I know Broadway. However, I found the idea of a dead elf in the storefront window of a jeweler’s during the Christmas season mad fun to write about.

The Chocolate Kiss-Off revolves around chocolate and murder. What could be better? Valentine’s Day is upon us and the owner of a gourmet chocolate factory in Brooklyn is found drowned in a huge vat of chocolate. As Percy notes, “Some would say there are worse ways to go.”

Taking place in New York’s Manhattan at the beginning of World War Two, the Persephone Cole Vintage series keeps me on my toes. Sometimes what I find out about the time period is surprising. I love that part. And the readers seem to be enjoying the Percy Cole series. I love that even more.

The Dagger Before Me 

Persephone Cole, A Vintage Holiday Mystery, Book 1

      

It’s 1942 and Persephone “Percy” Cole is pounding the pavement of Manhattan, bucking the odds as one of its first female private detectives. Halloween finds Percy backstage during the previews of the latest Broadway production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. There’s double, double, toil and trouble when an actor falls from an overhead catwalk and breaks his neck. Only the latest in a series of catastrophes, his death further serves to fuel the lore and superstition surrounding The Bard’s play and its supernatural forces since its creation in 1606.

With a shortage of manpower, due to the war overseas, the desperate producer takes a chance on a female PI to save the show from closing. But everyone has their secrets, from the director down to the lowliest spear thrower, and they all want Percy gone. After one more killing and a near-death scene for Percy, she’s not sure which is worse: someone trying to kill her or being foisted into the role of Witch Number Two.

Armed only with her noodle and a WWI German Mauser, Persephone Cole sets out to make things right, because that’s what lady dicks do.

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AUTHOR INSPIRATION WITH DEB McCASKEY

The author with a Packard similar to the one her sleuth drove

Before having the time to write fiction, Deb McCaskey’s life was spent mostly as a newspaper editor and reporter in community news, which gave her an appreciation for a good story and a good quote. Writing a novel was always in the back of her mind, and she began this one -- a cozy mystery set in the Golden Age of Hollywood -- during National Novel Writing Month a few years ago. Learn more about Deb at her website.

First, I’m honored to be invited to the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers party to talk about my novel Stardusted and how it came to be set in its particular time and place. It started one October a few years ago, when I was talking to a good friend, Janice Peacock, about her plans to work on a new book in her Glass Bead Mysteries series during NaNoWriMo. When I said I’d always thought that sounded like fun, she encouraged me to participate with her. There was just one problem: I didn’t have an idea.

No, that’s not quite right. Over the years I had toyed with many ideas and settings for a novel, but never had gotten serious about any of them. Too many ideas! I realized I had to pick one, and when I remembered how much I loved movies of the ’30s, with their glamorous clothes, sassy heroines and snappy dialogue, I thought, well, there’s an era I’d like to spend time in. I had read memoirs by people who were there, and had always found them immense fun. Reading more of these, as well as anything else I could get my hands on about that era, seemed like a really enjoyable way to do research. And that turned out to be true.

I immediately liked the idea of the sleuth being a glamorous blonde in the mold of Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, or Marion Davies: someone whose smarts people might underestimate, someone whose bosses at the studio are not happy with her snooping around town asking questions, and who just want her to be content with her very fortunate lot as a movie star. The title, Stardusted, came to me almost immediately and actually helped to shape the plot. And because I’m still basically a horse-crazy girl, I decided it had to have horses in it, too.

It was fun playing around with these ideas for a month, but I didn’t actually finish a first draft and kind of put the whole thing aside with a wistful shrug. I was still working and had a lot of family responsibilities -- you know, like everyone does -- and just didn’t feel like I had the mental or emotional energy or the time to see the story through. 

But a funny thing happened over the next few months and years. Frankie and her friends -- who include a singing cowboy, a reclusive former silent-film star, an alcoholic ex-husband, and a sexy composer boyfriend -- kept appearing on my shoulder, if you will, doing and saying things I found very interesting. When they all just wouldn’t shut up, I figured I’d better start writing it all down.

There were some dark, very dark, things about Hollywood in the ‘30s -- or any time, actually. But there was also a sense of excitement and fun as so many quirky, creative people came together to create the industry some call the dream factory. My aim with Stardusted was to capture, if only for my own amusement, the light-hearted spirit of the movies of that era, and to create characters who were people I would like to meet.  

Stardusted

A Frankie Franklin Mystery

Meet Frankie Franklin, “America’s Kid Sister,” one of the brightest stars in 1930s Hollywood. Onscreen she’s clever and brave, and always bests the bad guys. But now Frankie is confronted with a real-life mystery and real-life peril, after a young actor is shot and almost dies on the set of her latest film. How did it happen? And are there lives still in danger? Though her studio wants to sweep it all under the rug and move on, Frankie is driven to find out what happened, and with good reason: She was the one who pulled the trigger.

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--MYSTERY AUTHOR SARAH E. GLENN ON BOOZY RESEARCH & A BEE'S KNEES COCKTAIL

A very classy Bee’s Knees, courtesy of the Vinoy Hotel

Sarah E. Glenn, a Jane-of-all-trades, has a B.S. in Journalism. She loves reading and writing mystery and horror stories, often with a sidecar of funny. Interesting tidbit: Sarah worked the Reports Desk for her local police department, and she can attest that criminals are dumb. Learn more about Sarah and her books at her website. 

Boozy Research

By Sarah Glenn and Gwen Mayo

I have an interesting conundrum: I don’t drink, but I’m writing a confirmed tippler. Teddy Lawless loves her drinks, especially cocktails. When I wrote my trunk novel, I researched gardening. When I wrote my vampire satire, I researched Irvine, California (the setting). Now, I’m exploring some of the older drinking establishments in Saint Petersburg, including one featured in Murder at the Million Dollar Pier.

The Jungle Prada Tavern

The Gangplank, built in 1924, was Saint Petersburg’s first night club, located in the then exclusive Jungle Prada area. It overlooked Boca Ciega Bay and would later have a splendid view of the Don Cesar Hotel. During Prohibition, rumrunners’ boats docked at the small pier a short distance from the building. From there, the booze was taken through a tunnel that opened in the fireplace of the club, keeping the Gangplank well supplied with high quality alcohol from the Caribbean. Al Capone was rumored to be one of the investors.

It was a must for our book. We discovered there was still a bar on the old site, the Jungle Prada Tavern, and we made a pilgrimage to Boca Ciega to see what was left of the club. The original complex has been broken into multiple buildings, but we still found remnants of the bandstand and the dance floor, shaped like the prow of a ship. In the 1920s, bright striped canvas awnings covered the open-air dance floor. 

Entering the bar was like stepping into a time machine. The bar where Babe Ruth was married and countless illegal bottles of rum were consumed, is much the same, though the fireplace is gone. The current drink menu features several cocktails inspired by 1920s recipes. We asked them to make watered-down versions for us, but they curled my hair anyway. I’m not ready to be a full-fledged flapper yet. 

The Bee’s Knees

(featured cocktail in Murder at the Million Dollar Pier)

In the 1920s, “the bee’s knees” was slang that meant “the best.” The Prohibition-era cocktail was a gin sour blend of lemon juice and honey that was created to mask the harsh “bathtub gin” smell. The earliest book to publish the recipe was the 1930 edition of San Francisco bartender and author Bill Boothby’s cocktail compendium World Drinks and How to Mix Them. However, the blend is believed to have originated in post-World War I Paris, where sugar was in short supply. The true origin of the drink is the subject of much debate and so far, there is no definitive answer.

There are several existing versions of The Bee’s Knees, including one that is still served at the Vinoy Park Hotel. They differ in some ways, but all of them agree on three basic ingredients: honey syrup, gin, and lemon juice. I’m partial to the version they serve at the Vinoy: so sweet, you could have it as dessert.

Ingredients:

1 cocktail shaker of crushed ice 

2 oz. gin 

1 oz. honey syrup  

1 oz. fresh squeezed lemon juice 

Shake the liquids with crushed ice and strain the drink into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon or orange twist and/or a sprig of fresh basil. 

(Honey syrup is made by thinning honey with hot water. I recommend every 3 ounces of honey be thinned with one ounce of hot water. If you prefer a less sweet drink use honey and hot water in a 1 to 1 ratio.) 

Murder at the Million Dollar Pier

Three Snowbirds, Book 2

Shortly after Teddy Lawless arrives at the newly opened Vinoy Hotel in Saint Petersburg, she comes face to face with her ex-fiancé, Ansel Stevens, in the dining room. Cue the slap that was thirty years in the making. Her ex-fiancé dies during a yacht race shortly thereafter. Conclusion of the authorities: poison. Teddy is arrested after her hair comb is found on the deck of the vessel. Can Cornelia Pettijohn and Uncle Percival save fun-loving Teddy before she goes from the grand hotel to the big house?

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